m
no security to know that the French would be with him--he knew which
country would win in the end. He was preying on Kingsley Bey's humanity,
and he hoped to make it well worth while. And all he thought and planned
was well understood by Dicky.

Over their coffee they both talked from long distances towards the
point of attack and struggle, Ismail carelessly throwing in glowing
descriptions of the palaces he was building. Dicky never failed to show
illusive interest, and both knew that they were not deceiving the other,
and both came nearer to the issue by devious processes, as though these
processes were inevitable. At last Dicky suddenly changed his manner and
came straight to the naked crisis.

"Highness, I have an invitation for Kingsley Bey to dine at the British
Consulate to-night. You can spare his presence?"

"My table is not despicable. Is he not comfortable here?"

"Is a mud floor, with bread and water and a sleeping-mat, comfortable?"

"He is lodged like a friend."

"He is lodged like a slave--in a cell."

"They were not my orders."

"Effendina, the orders were mine."

"Excellency!"

"Because there were no orders and Foulik Pasha was sleepless with
anxiety lest the prisoner should escape, fearing your Highness's anger,
I gave orders and trusted your Highness to approve."

Ismail saw a mystery in the words, and knew that it was all to be part
of Dicky's argument in the end. "So be it, Excellency," he said, "thou
hast breathed the air of knowledge, thine actions shine. In what quarter
of the palace rests he? And Foulik Pasha?"

"Foulik Pasha sits by his door, and the room is by the doorway where the
sarrafs keep the accounts for the palaces your Highness builds. Also,
abides near, the Greek, who toils upon the usury paid by your Highness
to Europe."

Ismail smiled. The allusions were subtle and piercing. There was a short
pause. Each was waiting. Dicky changed the attack. "It is a pity we
should be in danger of riot at this moment, Highness."

"If riots come, they come. It is the will of God, Excellency. But in our
hand lies order. We will quiet the storm, if a storm fall."

"There will be wreck somewhere."

"So be it. There will be salvage."

"Nothing worth a riot, Highness."

The Khedive eyed Dicky with a sudden malice and a desire to slay--to
slay even Donovan Pasha. He did not speak, and Dicky continued
negligently: "Prevention is better than cure."

The Khedive understood perfect